"Christians in Niger are joyfully meeting in homes under police protection as they plan to rebuild church buildings and houses after attacks last weekend (Jan. 16-18) that were unprecedented in scale.

“'Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened in this nation,” wrote one missionary couple in the capital, Niamey. “Nearly every church in the capital city of Niamey was burned or looted, along with some schools and orphanages and several other churches and Christian homes throughout the nation...'”

"As thousands of abortion foes surged through the city on their annual protest march to the Supreme Court, Republicans muscled legislation through the House on Thursday tightening federal restrictions on abortions. The vote came after internal divisions forced them into an embarrassing fumble of a similar bill."Even as a White House veto threat all but ensured the bill would never become law, the House voted by a near party-line 242-179 to permanently bar federal funds for any abortion coverage. The measure would also block tax credits for many people and businesses buying abortion coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law."GOP leaders pushed the measure to the House floor hours after abruptly abandoning another bill banning most late-term abortions because a rebellion led by female Republican lawmakers left them short of votes."While that stumble underscored the challenges GOP leaders face in controlling their newly enlarged House majority, they were eager to act the same day that March for Life protesters streamed through town to protest the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion."'I urge my colleagues to stand with the hundreds of thousands of people out on the Mall right now by voting for this bill," said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "Stand up and commit to creating an America that values every life...'"

"Top pro-life members of Congress and leading pro-life organizations are united in the face of opposition from some pro-life Republican members of Congress to the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. They are vowing to not give up on unborn babies and promise the bill will eventually get a vote in the House and Senate."A handful of pro-life Republicans sabotaged the bill Thursday because they were unhappy with the language in the bill concerning women who are victimized by rape. But pro-life Senator Lindsey Graham, who is the prime Senate sponsor, says the bill will come back soon even though Republican leaders were forced to delay the vote.“'This is going to be about wholesale abortions on demand in 20 weeks, five months into pregnancy, and it won’t be about rape,” Graham said. “Nobody’s for rape.”“'Somebody in the House put a provision in there, if you didn’t report the rape to law enforcement, then it’s not going to be considered a legitimate rape. Well, that’s ridiculous,” Graham told reporters. “I’ve been, you know, in criminal law all my life, and the vast majority of women who are raped don’t report it, so we’re not going to go down that road...'”

"Once again the world's attention is drawn to the Middle East with the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and the tendered resignation of Yemen's president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi."King Abdullah, who died early Friday (Jan. 23), is succeeded by his brother Salman bin Abdul Aziz.

"Both events come at a time when peoples of the Arab nations reflect on the impact of the Arab Spring and the current rise of the Islamic State (ISIS)...""...The fourth anniversary of the Arab Spring uprisings arrives with little sign of real change in the Arab world, except for precious signs of God at work amid the chaos...""...In Syria, the death toll is 200,000 and growing. Syrian refugees number more than 3 million, causing overcrowding in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The fanaticism of ISIS in Syria and Iraq has flummoxed even other militant Muslim factions.

"Now the Arab Spring has morphed into Arab Winter.

"But Christian workers in the Arab world want people to know that neither newfound democracy nor violence and bloodshed are the only stories worth sharing.

"'There is another story that is not being told," said James Keath*, International Mission Board (IMB) strategy leader for work in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

"Keath recounts examples of Muslim men and women coming to faith in Christ. He also tells of how God has met Arab Christians in their moments of need, providing grace and love and even the ability to forgive those who killed their families.""The worst humanitarian catastrophe of our day is opening doors among peoples we have never had access to before," Keath said. "And we are finding not just broken lives but open hearts.""One example is a Syrian refugee woman caring for her sick mother -- penniless, fearful, despairing, without the will to live. She heard the Good News of Jesus from some of His followers who were delivering blankets to the needy. She put her trust in Him saying, "I know Jesus is the only answer. He is the one who can give me peace in my heart and a reason to live..."

"At least five Christians, including an 11-year-old child, were killed and around 7,000 people experienced persecution during 2014, according to a new report that tracks persecution against Christians in India."The Christian Persecution Report, released this week by the Mumbai-based Catholic Secular Forum (CSF), states that about 300 clergymen and Christian leaders were targeted in incidents of violence around the country last year."The report’s authors are critical of what they see as a swing toward conservatism and fundamentalism in India, a Hindu-majority country that is nevertheless wildly diverse.“'Some right-wing forces have become active since the pro-Hindu Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) took over the reins of the country,” Joseph Dias, CSF’s general secretary, told ucanews.com."The report claims that roughly 273,000 minorities had been re-converted to Hinduism in one part of northern India’s massive Uttar Pradesh state."In October, Hindu fundamentalists attacked twelve Christian villagers in central India’s Chhattisgarh state. Earlier in the year, 50 villages in the same district passed resolutions outlawing non-Hindu religious ceremonies."These alarming problems have led the report’s authors to label Chhattisgarh as India’s worst place to live as a Christian..."

"[Bruce Allen of Forgotten Missionaries International] shares an important prayer need for a congregation of Christians in one Chakma village."One of the church planters who has outreaches to three different villages was approached by the tribal leaders of his primary village."Allen explains, “The village leaders, just days ago, told the Christians that they needed to leave the village: they were no longer welcome. This congregation is part of the Chakma tribe which is a little bit of an anomaly in Bangladesh.”"Again, the Chakma people are Buddhist while Bangladesh exists as the third-largest Muslim-dominant country in the world."Despite their steep history of Buddhism (catch up on the Chakma background here), there has been a great movement in the last few years.“'The Gospel had come into several Chakma villages and [is] changing the villages,” Allen says.

"This transformation causes village leaders to feel threatened. They, in turn, are threatening the future of a 40-member strong congregation."At best, the church will be sort of socially ex-communicated, as Allen puts it. They’ll have to find a new place that will welcome them. But even to visit another village is a three-hour hike. And it’s hard to believe another village will accept these Christians, judging by their already tense relations with the Muslim government..."

"Hearts are breaking in Burma. Army soldiers raped and killed two young Christian women as they slept in their church compound in Shan state."Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports the women, ages 20 and 21, were teachers working with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC). Partners Relief and Development sources say the KBC sends volunteer missionaries two-by-two every year into areas of need."The Kachin women mentioned above were sent by the KBC to people living along the Kachin State-Shan state border. They were actively teaching people about God’s love, Partners’ contacts report.“'This event really highlights what has been going on daily,” shares Partners co-founder Steve Gumaer. “Burma is still under the same kind of military rule and brutality as it has been since the ’90s...'”

"A group of Christian colleges in Illinois have sued the state over what they believe to be their right to grant students full degrees without having to conform their curriculum to state standards."With the aid of the Chicago-based firm Mauck & Baker, the group that calls itself the Illinois Bible Colleges Association filed a lawsuit last week against the Illinois Board of Higher Education in district court."Colleges belonging to the group include Providence Baptist College of Elgin, United Faith Christian Institute and Bible College of Maywood, and the DaySpring Bible College and Seminary of Mundelein."Pastor Jim Scudder Jr., president of Dayspring, told The Christian Post that his college "has a biblical conviction that we should not be encumbered by the government as we attempt to fulfill our mission of training pastors and missionaries.""'Therefore we have chosen to request exemption from the state of Illinois' Board of Higher Education. They have only granted that exemption as long as we don't offer degrees. They said diplomas and certificates were all we were allowed to offer," said Scudder."Dayspring and several other schools in Illinois have formed an association … to sue the state — asking for the right to offer full degrees without state regulations (except health and safety), as we believe is afforded by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution...'"

"Three priests from a Baptist church in Guinea have been beaten up and held hostage because local people mistook them for Ebola awareness campaigners."The priests had gone to the village of Kabac in Forecariah intending to spray insecticide on wells and pit latrines, a BBC reporter says."But they were set upon by villagers who suspected they may have been bringing the Ebola virus into the area, he adds."More than 8,600 people have died in West Africa in the Ebola outbreak."Earlier this month, residents in Forecariah attacked and killed two police officers they suspected of bringing Ebola to the area."The priests were badly beaten and their vehicle was set on fire, reports the BBC's Alhassan Sillah from Guinea..."

Trials make the promise sweet; Trials give new life to prayer; Trials bring me to His feet, Lay me low, and keep me there.

"God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and subjecting them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many long miles with heavy backpacks of sorrow. Well, Christian, may this not account for the troubles through which you are passing? Is the Lord bringing out your graces and making them grow? Is it for this reason He contends with you?"